Seattle to make thousands off of new bike-share permits

“We are thrilled that Seattle has re-opened the bike share program to a new generation of providers, and LimeBike has been working closely with local stakeholders to ensure that we can meet the city’s expectations and residents’ needs and be on-the-ground as quickly as possible,” said LimeBike CEO Toby Sun.

But LimeBike is not the only company benefiting from a newly-minted bike share pilot in Seattle. Spin bike share is also “thrilled.” It has been active in Seattle in the months leading up to the pilot, even starting a philanthropic effort to fund bike safety and awareness programs.

“SDOT’s forward thinking transportation policies bring us one step closer to offering Spin’s affordable, equitable smart stationless bikeshare system to all neighborhoods across Seattle … Spin is committed to improving urban living in Seattle,” said Spin CEO Derrick Ko.

Up to 10 companies have been waiting to roll into town, but Seattle had to come up with a pilot permit first. The recently drafted rules largely deal with dockless systems (unlike Pronto). Similar to Car2Go, customers find an unused bike with their smart phone, unlock it, pay $1 and ride. The pilot will run until the end of the year. Bike share companies are required to have no less than 500 bikes on the road, but the rules allow up to thousands to eventually come into town.